Face-off: Obama impersonators

Walking into the Old Ebbitt Grill, Larry Graves literally stops traffic. Drivers slow to gawk. Patrons stare. Members of the wait staff — long accustomed to serving Washington elites — do double takes.

At about 6-foot-1, with a long, lean frame, closely cropped hair and a gleaming smile, Graves is a dead ringer for President Barack Obama — a one-in-a-million gift that the D.C.-area resident is determined to turn into a lucrative career.

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“It’s been quite a ride,” Graves says over a lunch of crab cakes and potato salad. “There are so many people who, for a split second, think I’m the real thing, and the look in their eyes — it’s unbelievable.”

Obama impersonators have cropped up all over the nation since the fall campaign season — some white, some black — but Graves is among the most naturally striking.

The changes he makes to get into his physical character are minor: a suit, hair combed forward, lightly thickened eyebrows and a bit of putty behind his ears to make them protrude.

But to be truly believable takes more than just a good bone structure, Graves says. Impersonating is part acting, part charisma and part make-believe.

As Obama, Graves aims to tap into the inner child of the people he meets: that giddy, wide-eyed desire to believe that Santa Claus might actually be real.

He recently appeared at the birthday party of an 89-year-old Obama volunteer who had to be stopped by family members from calling the press to report that Obama had appeared at his party.

“Everyone wants that connection. But because not everyone can reach the president, I’m the next best thing,” Graves says.

It’s not all about altruism, of course.

Casting agencies say it’s often a year into a president’s first term before impersonators begin seeing solid business. But once they do, many can make good money doing it, some even keeping it as a full-time job, commanding thousands of dollars to appear in commercials, at parties and at speaking engagements.

At least one top George W. Bush impersonator was known to command as much as $25,000 per event.

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Graves, who has signed on with the McLean-based Cast of Thousands, isn’t there yet: He’s still working as a substitute teacher and as an ad model for companies such as Toyota and Bank of America.

So far, Graves has appeared at federal government agency parties, Ford’s Theatre and the wedding of Wolf Blitzer’s daughter.

As the gigs get better, the pressure increases. Graves falls asleep every night to a playlist of the president’s daily public speeches and news conferences. A tenor, he consciously tries to slow his speech pattern and drop his voice to match Obama’s baritone. His hand gestures are calculated; he clenches his jaw and smiles at himself in the mirror.